The present invention relates to an apparatus for transferring printed products supplied on a first conveyor path in an overlapping stream to a second conveyor path that is coplanar with the first conveyor path, with the first conveyor path including a shoulder. The device for gripping a printed product includes a removal arm equipped with two cooperating rollers that are movable between a first and a second position. A movable flap that is pivotal in the region of the shoulder between a position above the overlapping stream and a position below the overlapping stream precedes the rollers.
A device of this type is disclosed in Swiss Patent CH-A 659,053 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,582. In this apparatus, the removal arm is pivotal about a vertical pivot axis between a first position and a second position. In the first position, a printed product from the overlapping stream of the first conveyor path is gripped essentially at one point between the two rollers and is transferred to the second conveyor path with a flinging movement. The drawback is here that the rollers must be aligned precisely in the diagonal of the printed product to be transferred and therefore readjustment work would be necessary for every change of format. It has also been found that the point-like gripping of the printed products makes the transfer unstable and the printed products are frequently turned sideways which may lead to jamming in the overlapping stream and quite generally to malfunctions. Moreover, the apparatus cannot be used as a turnout switch which would often be desirable in such systems. The device is also not suitable for removal of single copies for manufacturing of key bundles and for the separation of folded together printed products. This device has therefore never found acceptance in practice.
Swiss Patent CH-A 617,636 discloses a similar device in which, however, printed products to be taken out of the conveying stream are brought out of the plane of the first conveyor path in an obliquely upward direction. It has been found that the necessary reversal of the direction of the printed products to be separated is unfavorable since the overlapping stream is often interfered with. In order for a printed product to be removed from the overlapping stream, the movable component of the removal arm must be greatly accelerated at high conveying speeds. However, the result of such accelerations is that the printed product to be transferred is not gripped or is ejected again.